I truly enjoyed this book. I enjoy physics, and this book I believe is great for anyone who wants to know about the history of the quantum.

Hoffman wrote this book as if he is speaking directly to you, with a sense of humor and wit.

Are physicist right-well, most of the time.

This wonderful book written by Hoffman in 1947 (and updated in 1958) is timeless. That seems like a rather strange statement considering we are talking about physics, which seems to upend itself every 10 years! I am an avid fan of books on physics, astrophysics and cosmology. I have one major deficit and that is I have little math background. Hoffman's ability to write about complex concepts in a nonmathematical format is superb. His historical accounting of how classical physics was astounded by quantum physics is both stimulating and entertaining. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about the origins of today's popular thoughts in physics.

Hoffman writes with attention to scientific detail as well as with a wry sense of humor:

Is light a wave or a particle? Yes!
Is the electron here or there? Yes!
Do physicists really know what they're talking about? Yes!

Relativity and its Roots is more than an assembly of Einstein's work, it's a rich volume of scientific history leading up to his discoveries. The book starts with the early philosophical and geometrical ideas of the greeks and guides the reader up to and beyond the breakthroughs made in the middle ages. Complete with dozens of explanitory diagrams, it's one read that will change your perception of our universe.

Many books attempt to expound the complexities of modern thinking in physics, but few achieve their objective as well as Hoffmann's "Relativity and its Roots." Hoffmann gives a superb overview of the history of thought in physics. He also gives vibrant descriptions of difficult concepts, leading the reader in the most natural way toward a solid understanding of Relativity theory and the foundations upon which it is built. In my opinion, this book ranks with the best of popular expositions both on the history of scientific thought in physics, and on modern physics itself. I recommend it for the non-initiated as well as for the seasoned scientist.

The fantastical setting of Edwin A. Abbott's "Flatland" is one of the most curious in literature: a two-dimensional world in which all the inhabitants are sentient flat shapes which slide around on a plane with no knowledge or conception of a third dimension. However, the book's theme -- the importance of unimpeded scientific inquiry and the danger of denying the possibilities of infinity in all its forms -- is treated with the didacticism of a tendentious theological tract, leaving the reader, who probably was already well aware of the book's implications long before he even heard of the book, gasping for breath.

We are introduced to the nature of Flatland by the narrator, a nameless Square, who describes his world as being populated primarily by regular polygons. A citizen's social and occupational status is in direct proportion to his number of sides, so those with so many sides that they approximate circles achieve the highest ranks. These circular elite are dubbed "priests" and rule Flatland apparently on a parliamentary model. At the other end of the spectrum are the Triangles, who constitute the working class. Even lower than the Triangles, however, are the simpleminded Lines -- and these are Flatland's women, useful only for procreation. It takes little imagination to guess what the irregular polygons represent.

The Square's purpose in writing this report is to rejoice in his discovery of the (previously unimagined) third dimension, revealed to him by a helpful Sphere who visits from Spaceland. The Square, now in possession of arcane knowledge and an intuitive conviction of the existence of higher dimensions, assumes an evangelical role and ultimately emerges as a Promethean figure when he is imprisoned for the heretical act of preaching a third dimension.

"Flatland" has been compared to "Alice in Wonderland" and "Gulliver's Travels," but I'd say there are clearer parallels to Huxley's "Brave New World" (in the classist regimentation of the Flatlanders' society) and Samuel Butler's "Erewhon" (in the Flatlanders' strange and limited belief system). The difference is that the aforementioned novels employ both irony to qualify as allegorical satires and narrative integrity to endure as pure fiction, whereas "Flatland" is so earnest in its delivery and so ineffectual in its impact, it feels like a pebble in an avalanche. Too obvious and elementary to be a scientific or mathematical essay, too obtuse to be a philosophical treatise, too moralistic to be a good example of a novel, "Flatland" misses its mark and slips silently through the cracks.

In this book, Abbott uses the best tool available to those of us who try to understand the incomprehensible: analogy. "Mr. A. Square" is a man that lives in the two-dimensional world "Flatland," and through strange phenominon that leave him branded as a heretic, he visits the 1- and 3-dimensional worlds. He sees that many things are just about perspective.

Flatland was written in a time before computers, and when "higher dimensions" were still about space and perception and analogy rather than some strange physics notion that this mathematette doesn't understand. It was also written in a time when it was appropriate for the author to have one-dimensional women in a two-dimensional world (or, alternatively, women as points in the one-dimensional world). This difference between the author's perspective and ours certainly adds a... "new dimension" to reading it!

I first read this book when I was 12 years old, and it was not at all above my head at that age. I'm no a professional mathematician, and I still enjoy reading the novel. I recommend it to anyone.

Here is a book on the principles of dimension in mathematics that is fun to read, but explains the principles so well. Flatland is a classic dating back to 1880, but reads like a delightful fairy tale. It thoroughly explains the concepts of lines, planes and the limitations of our dimensions in space.

There is some amusing stuff here; the author is apparently a misogynist --women in Flatland are needle-thin, (well, that's not all bad) stupid, because of the size of their pointy heads (hey!) and violently dangerous due to their shape and lack of higher reasoning power.

Despite poking fun at females, this book is amusing and valuable since it can teach some great math prinicples. There is a "sequel" Sphereland published in the 20th century by a different author, that goes into dimensions higher than 3. It's fun, too. As an explanantion of the concept of dimension, plus for imagination, Flatland is a real classic and a favorite of mine.

not to say that einstein wasn't exceptionally clever, but i found the tone of this book to be leaning a bit to far to the 'worship einstein as a minor deity' side of things. any potential cause to think less of old albert is glossed over in an unapealing way. the examples that come to mind are the minimal treatment that poincare's accomplishments regarding relativity recieve, and the minimal information on his divorces. i wish the authors had stepped down from the altar of the holy einstein long enough to give him a human treatment. even the title is a bit much. creator and rebel? it would be funny if it weren't sadly earnest.

In the first chapter the author uses a meeting Albert Einstein had with Charlie Chaplan to criticize the way in which ordinary people have come to worship famous people. Yet a few pages later, page 14 to be exact, the author writes, "...considering little Albert was to become none other than Einstein..." Perhaps I interpreted this statement wrong, but it seems as if the author is falling into the very hero-worship that he attacked earlier. I don't know.

I am aware that Einstein had a certain philosophy regarding the correct way to write a biography, but this book was extremely dry. I was constantly reminded that I'm reading this for a physics class. Zzzz.....

I have read several biographies of Einstein, some of which are among my list of all-time favorite books. None however, approach the intimacy or sense of personal connection as Hoffmann and Dukas' 1972 classic "Creator and Rebel." Perhaps because of Helen Dukas' influence, this book contains perhaps the most intimate look at the man and, thanks to Hoffmann, the one of the clearest explanations of his science. Though other biographies are also must-reads for Einstein devotees (Folsing and Frank, for instance), this one goes to the top of my list.

With the name Hoffmann Banesh, this book need no review. He is the author of many wonderful mathematics books which include illustration. As the old saying "a picture worth a thousand words", this book use picture to solve the mysterious of vector which is so complex. It will help you gain a better understanding of vector if you're taking Physics or Vector Analysis class.

This book is an excellent introduction to Einstein - if one happens to be a theoretical physicist with an IQ of 186. In other words, this book is abstruse in the extreme. The essays describing Einstein's theories depend heavily on formulas and equations. This begs the question, "so what is the book for?" Other sections of the book dealing with Einstein and the Bomb draw from Einstein's letters, which is good, but the letters really speak for themselves anyway. The section I thought might interest me, Einstein's perspective on language and thought, turned out to be a bunch of psychobabble that obviously comprises someone's ill-conceived thesis. The tone of the book, furthermore, is sickeningly sycophantic. We all recognize Einstein as a great man. What a pity that this book doesn't bring us any closer to knowing why. The picture on the cover, however, is precious. It looks like Inspector Clouseau on the trail of the dreaded Library Fine Evader. I do not recommend this book to any but scholars who've already read everything else on the subject.